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Chinese Medicine, Essential Oils and Holistic Healing for PMS

By Dr. Marji Lee Pearson

PMS and dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps) are certainly common reasons for seeking treatment with acupuncture, medicinal grade essential oils and Chinese herbs as these holistic methods tend to be very effective and safe options for most women. Chinese medicine and acupuncture have enjoyed a rich history in treating gynecological issues. Even today, many women turn to this style of treatment for numerous female health concerns. PMS and cramping usually respond very well to treatment.

Both PMS and cramping are generally attributed to an underlying imbalance in the liver that is based on qi and blood stagnation. The liver is responsible for balanced circulation throughout the body; cramping pain and PMS are signs that the blood has congealed and qi has become stuck. The primary cause of liver qi and blood stagnation is emotional in nature and is specifically related to the suppression of anger and frustration. When you are feeling stuck in your life and your creative resources are thwarted, the natural byproducts are anger and frustration. The continued attachment to these emotions makes us feel stuck on all levels. Thus, the body will mirror to us this stagnation by impairing the circulation of qi and blood through the liver meridian. This, in turn, causes pain, mood swings, and further emotional upset.

Liver blood stagnation that causes cramping can also be attributed to abuse at the onset of menses. Be it sexual, physical, or verbal abuse, such external reinforcements can easily cause our blood circulation to shut down as a protective mechanism against the injurious circumstance. In my practice, many women with severe and prolonged cramping have confided in me that they were once abused. When I tell them that their menstrual imbalances are probably related to this, many of them intuitively recognize this as true, which is the first step in initiating the healing process.

I have found that many women have resigned themselves to simply putting up with these uncomfortable symptoms every month. They simply think that this is normal and that there is no treatment available for it. When I tell women that acupuncture and herbs work very well, many do not believe me until they start to see miraculous changes in their cycles. They no longer feel like the world is ending and they are no longer doubled over in pain for days; how could this be? Well, this is actually one of the easier conditions to treat since acupuncture, herbs and oils excel at moving stuck qi and blood. Needles disperse energy and promote circulation. That is their primary function. By harmonizing the flow of qi in the liver meridian, order is restored the woman’s body and mind. Along with acupuncture, here are a few herbs and oils and supplements that I recommend. It is always best to pursue natural treatments under the guidance of a skilled practitioner. With that said, consider the following:

Essential Oils

• Roman Chamomile, sweet marjoram, rose geranium and ylang ylang
• Cypress, fennel, helichrysum, rose, clary sage and lavender

These are some of the essential oils that will help relieve cramping. You can use them in a compress, bath and massage oil.

Chinese Herbs

• Xiao Yao Wan: Also called Free and Easy Wanderer, this is the quintessential gynecological formula in Chinese herbal medicine and one of the most popular herbal formulas throughout history. This formula combines a variety of herbs that regulate liver qi and strengthen the spleen. Therefore, it is good for PMS, mild to moderate cramping, mood swings, fatigue, and bloating during menses.
• Jia Wei Xiao Yao Wan: This is Free and Easy Wanderer Plus, which adds to heat-clearing herbs to the original formula. This makes it suitable for more severe symptoms of irritability, headaches, cramping, and possibly elevated body temperature.
• Shao Fu Zhu Yu Tang: This formula promotes the circulation of liver blood and warms the lower abdominal organs, which makes it suitable for more severe cramping that is alleviated by the application of heat.
• Crampbark Plus: This is a formula by Health Concerns that combines a variety of blood moving herbs for menstrual cramps and irregularity.
• Women’s Chamber: This is a variation of a Chinese herbal formula called gui zhi fu ling wan that is used for fibroids, cysts, endometriosis, and cramping. This formula moves liver blood, warms the uterus, and dissipates phlegm accumulations (cysts and fibroids).

Nutritional Supplements

• Krill Oil: This is an essential fatty acid complex that is rich in phospholipids which makes it ideal for female health. If krill oil isn’t available or is too expensive, take a standard fish oil, starting at 3,000mg daily. Essential fatty acids are excellent for stabilizing the mood, reducing inflammation and pain, and aiding in the regulation of estrogen and progesterone (especially krill oil).
• Phosphatidyl Choline: This is a phospholipid that has been shown to help in balancing estrogen and progesterone. It has a positive effect of PMS and cramping.
• Antioxidant Complex: Taking a high quality antioxidant ensures that you are getting adequate vitamins and mineral for healthy blood and hormonal balance. Vitamins B12 and folic acid are commonly deficient in women and can lead to blood imbalances from the perspective of Chinese medicine.
• 5 htp: This is a natural precursor to serotonin that is helpful for stabilizing moods and reducing cravings. It is also useful for fatigue and poor sleep.
• Calcium: 1000-1336 mg/day has been proven to improve mood and reduce water retention
• Magnesium: deficiency is strongly implicated as a causative factor in PMS (use 360mg 3x/day)
• Vitamin E: 100-400 IU/day has been clinically shown to reduce PMS symptoms
• Vitamin B6: promotes healthy levels of neurotransmitters and endorphins for emotional stability

Nutritional Recommendations

Nutritional therapy can go a long way toward healing PMS and cramping. The standard American diet is certainly enough to create a host of problems for female health, including hormonal imbalances, various side effects of holding excess weight, low serotonin levels, and poor metabolism. Here are a few basic tips to consider if you want to use food to heal yourself:

• Avoid refined sugar: Refined products in general should be avoided in order to heal PMS and cramping. Sugar in particular is harmful for all systems of the body.
• Switch to eating an organic whole foods diet: Eating organic means that the food is free from added hormones and other synthetic agents. This one step should profoundly benefit your health.
• Drink a lot of water.
• Avoid coffee: Coffee is one of the main inputs into fibrocystic conditions. It is an irritant to the colon and liver and can cause blood stagnation over time. Switch to green tea if you need the caffeine.

Make sure you that you get plenty of exercise. This is an important consideration for healing ourselves in general. Try to get at least 15 minutes a day, 4 days a week. Find ways to manage your stress level. Walking while listening to music that you love, self-help or motivation tapes are great ways to get exercise. Your not only exercising the body but the mind as well. Hopefully after reading this brief article, you feel more encouraged that there are steps you can take for PMS and cramping that you might not have known about. Don’t forget, it is common that natural therapies take time, as they have a cumulative effect over a few weeks. Be consistent and accurate in your treatment (which is difficult without some professional guidance) and you should make vast improvements.

To schedule a free consultation, ask questions or schedule an appointment call Dr. Marji Lee Pearson at 786.385.8629. Download my free e-book and sign up for an informative monthly newsletter at http://www.asianhealingarts-center.com

Dr. Marji Lee Pearson
Asian Healing Arts Center
2382 North Federal Highway
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33305
Phone: (786) 385-8629
http://www.asianhealingarts-center.com

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By Dr. Marji Lee Pearson

Depression is running rampant through our society. Approximately 35 million Americans suffer with depression or chronic anxiety. Many are taking anti-depressant medications. While these medications do offer support for a variety of people some do not respond as well. A few reasons for this include:

• Side effects that can outweigh the benefits of the medication being used
• Feeling disconnected from themselves on the medication
• Having a belief system that says depression isn’t a biochemical imbalance

Essential Oils

Essential Oils can be quite helpful. Here is a brief list of oils:

• Roman Chamomile
• Lavender
• Citrus oils of Mandarin, Orange, Lime, Bergamot, Tangerine
• Geranium
• Ylang Ylang

Chinese Herbs

There are many Chinese herbal formulas that really work wonders for depression. Here are a few:

• Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang
• Gui Pi Tang
• Tian Wan Bu Xin Tang

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a branch of Chinese medicine that treats the energetic level of the person. It is usually a profoundly relaxing experience that establishes a deep quality of restoration and balance to the central nervous system. Almost all people feel sleepy, dreamy, altered within the treatment and after. The feeling stays long after treatment ends and becomes better with continuous treatment. Many people don’t want to leave after their treatments and just want to curl up and stay in this wonderful feeling of well being.

Nutritional Supplements

I find that the majority of depressed or anxious patients suffer from hypoglycemia. Many of them begin their day drinking coffee and then crash in the afternoon. It is important to maintain stable blood sugar throughout the day. To help with this start the day with a high protein breakfast such as whole oats, eggs, turkey bacon. Make sure to have a snack with you and take it every 2 to 3 hours. Avoid caffeine and coffee or at least cut down your intake. Avoid allergenic food such as refined sugar, pasteurized dairy, wheat and gluten for 30 days and see what happens. The depression could significantly improve. Some nutritional supplements to help depression:

• Fish Oil
• B Vitamin complex

Emotional Issues

Depression means you are holding something inside of yourself. This could be from anger or frustration that you don’t express because of fear, low self-esteem or many other reasons. I have found that the use of Chinese Medicine, counseling and other holistic modalities work really well in helping to move through the issues and stuck energy. Something you can do for yourself is to move your body either through walking, running, biking, dancing to name a few. This also helps move the stuck energy inside your body/mind so you have more energy.

In my clinical practice I have worked with many patients who have lost hope and felt they had run out of options. Many come to me as a last resort. Based on my experience working with numerous patients that have suffered from anxiety and chronic depression I can safely say that using the above modalities has helped me in getting to the root cause of the depression and helping my patients move on with their lives.

To schedule a free consultation, ask questions or schedule an appointment call Dr. Marji Lee Pearson at 786.385.8629. Download my free e-book and sign up for an informative monthly newsletter at www.asianhealingarts-center.com

Dr. Marji Lee Pearson
Asian Healing Arts Center
2382 North Federal Highway
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33305
Phone: (786) 385-8629
http://www.asianhealingarts-center.com

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Insomnia, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Essential Oils and Chinese Herbs
By: Dr. Marji Lee Pearson

Insomnia plagues millions of Americans and can be attributed to a variety of causes. Perhaps the main cause of insomnia and restless sleep is the whirlwind pace that most modern people live with. Our society emphasizes ‘doing’ much more than ‘being’. In Chinese medicine and sleep disorders we look at the yin and the yang. In case you have never heard of yin and yang, these are the polar forces that are reflected in everything in the natural world. Yin relates to stillness, tranquility, and contemplation. Yang relates to movement, accomplishment, and function. We need yin and yang to be in balance within ourselves in order to experience true health and wellbeing. When we are yin deficient, we easily become restless, irritable, and excessively busy. Our ability to rest and restore is compromised, as we never seem to get a break from the constant activity in our minds and our lives.

This is one of the main dilemmas that we face in terms of experiencing deep states of continuous sleep. We have forgotten how to turn our minds off due to the frantic speed of everything around us and we have become yin deficient. The common word is stress, but there is a lot more to this picture than is implied. Another way to look at this is that the sympathetic nervous system is on overdrive. We are stuck in fight or flight mode, as we are trying to keep up with our hectic schedules and myriad responsibilities. With the pattern of yin deficiency and a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system, we often feel too warm, excessively thirsty, and anxious. This pattern is extremely common in menopausal women. Due to the fact that we are in fight or flight, we sometimes can’t tell if we are tired. Sometimes a deep-seated exhaustion is felt that penetrates into our bones and other times are bodies and minds just keep racing and never stop to rest.

There are many other factors that contribute to insomnia, but this is the primary issue that many people are facing. Other potential inputs are nutritional imbalances, suppressed emotions, relationship troubles, hormonal imbalances, and energetic imbalances. Let’s take a look at a few of the top natural treatment options for insomnia:

Acupuncture: All of the major organs of the body are related to specific kinds of insomnia. For instance, there is a liver/gall bladder insomnia in which one is kept awake strategizing, planning and scheduling their lives at night. This person often can’t turn their minds off unless they read or watch TV before bed. Likewise, there are kidney, heart, lung and spleen forms of insomnia that all have specific manifestations. Acupuncture is an excellent treatment option for insomnia, regardless of its etiology. Acupuncture helps to restore balance to the central nervous system and harmonize Qi, the functional energy that underlies our general state of health. Qi can either become stagnant, meaning that too much energy is locked up in a certain area or organ, or it can become deficient, meaning that there is not enough energy in an area or organ. Both of these patterns are treatable with Chinese medicine.

Herbs: There are many Chinese and Western herbs that can be very helpful for insomnia. Chinese herbs are typically used in combination to create formulas that treat specific patterns of disharmony. Western herbs are frequently used on their own. The great thing about the herbs listed here is that they don’t cause the drowsiness and disorientation that many of the Western sedative drugs do.

Valerian: Has mild sedative properties that help to relax the nervous system and calm the mind.

Chamomile: Has a mild tranquilizing and calming effect that soothes all major systems of the body.

Kava: A highly prized medicinal that is used to alleviate anxiety and induce deeper sleeping patterns.

Gui pi tang: A Chinese formula that nourishes the heart and spleen, for insomnia with low energy, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and possibly night sweats.

Tian wan bu xin dan: A Chinese formula that balances the relationship between the heart and kidneys, for symptoms such as insomnia, low back pain, anxiety, feeling of heat, thirst, and night sweats.

Suan zao ren tang: A Chinese formula that nourishes the heart and liver, for insomnia irritability.

An mian pian: A Chinese formula translated as peaceful sleep, for insomnia due to heart blood deficiency.

Essential Oils and Aromatherapy:
Lavender, Roman Chamomile, Ylang Ylang, Marjoram, Neroli, Jasmine, Rose, Sandalwood, Sweet Orange are all calming and soothing essential oils to help you sleep. They can be used in a bath, massage oil, inhalation therapy or as a perfume. These oils must be therapeutic grade essential oils.

Orange, sage, atlas cedar wood, spruce, peppermint and pine to name a few are wonderful if you are emotionally or physically drained. They can be used the same as for the above therapeutic essential oils.

Nutrition:

Caffeine
One of the obvious substances in terms of its effect on insomnia is caffeine. If you are drinking coffee, I recommend either cutting it out altogether for a period of time or switching to green tea. Coffee tends to irritate the nervous system, colon, and liver. It is very heating and stimulating and can be a major obstacle in healing insomnia. Green tea, on the other hand, is soothing to the gut and nervous system. It is cooling in nature and is loaded with antioxidants. While it does have some caffeine, it is still a much better choice than coffee.

Sugar
Another culprit in sleep disturbance is refined sugar. Regularly eating sugar causes increasing problems with the regulation of insulin and glucose, which will lead to hypoglycemia and possibly pre-diabetic symptoms. It has been clinically proven that blood sugar has a profound impact on the health of the nervous system. In order to keep blood sugar balanced, white sugar should be avoided or, at the very least, should be coupled with adequate protein intake. Sugar also causes inflammation in the body, which can adversely affect our ability to rest, restore and rejuvenate.

Alcohol
While some people claim that alcohol helps them sleep better, if you have chronic insomnia and drink regularly, it is certainly worth giving it up for a period of several weeks and see if your sleep improves. Alcohol also has an adverse effect on blood sugar and can easily irritate the liver, heart, and nervous system. Many people are sensitive to alcohol but haven’t identified it as a problem.

The ideal diet
Simply put, the best thing you can do to heal nutritionally from most chronic health conditions, including insomnia, is to eat an organic whole foods diet that is rich in antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and fiber and to minimize processed foods, sugars, and refined carbohydrates.

Nutritional Supplements

Melatonin: Has been proven to help people fall asleep, still controversial as to whether it helps with staying asleep.

Fish oil: Essential fatty acids have numerous health benefits. They are often used in the treatment of emotional and mental imbalances. As such, they tend to compliment other treatments that are being used for insomnia.

5HTP: A precursor to serotonin, 5HTP is used for anxiety, depression, carbohydrate cravings and insomnia.

I should reiterate that it is extremely rare that any of these natural options cause the side effects seen in Western sedatives such as drowsiness, moodiness, or dream disturbed sleep. I commonly notice that the patient’s overall health improves while using one or more of these protocols. Insomnia is quite treatable using this combination of therapies. In particular, I would highly recommend acupuncture is you have never tried it before. It should also be noted that there is a wide disparity in the quality of nutritional products available to the consumer. I only use pharmaceutical grade essential oils and Chinese herbs. It is definitely worth it to use a higher quality product and to be diagnosed by a qualified healthcare professional in order to achieve maximum benefit.

To schedule a free consultation, ask questions or schedule an appointment call Dr. Marji Lee Pearson at 786.385.8629. Download my free e-book and sign up for an informative monthly newsletter at http://www.asianhealingarts-center.com

Dr. Marji Lee Pearson
Asian Healing Arts Center
2382 North Federal Highway
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33305
Phone: (786) 385-8629
http://www.asianhealingarts-center.com

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